title: A novel iron transporter in Streptococcus iniae.
abstract: Streptococcus iniae is a major pathogen that results in considerable economic loss to fish farms. Restricted availability of iron is a huge obstacle to survival for pathogenic bacteria during infection, and iron acquisition is important in bacterial virulence. In this study, S. iniae HD-1 was shown not to produce siderophores (low-molecular-weight compounds) but rather to require iron-containing proteins for growth under iron-restricted conditions. The adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-binding-cassette (ABC) transporter system (ftsABCD), which is cotranscribed by four downstream genes, namely, ftsA, ftsB, ftsC and ftsD, was identified as responsible for haem utilization of S. iniae. Analysis of the corresponding recombinant protein, FtsB, indicated that it is a putative lipoprotein which plays a role in haem utilization and is produced in vivo during infection with S. iniae HD-1, and therefore may be a potential candidate antigen for a streptococcal vaccine.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Aquatic Products Safety of Ministry of Education/State Key Laboratory of Bio-control, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: L L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Zou
authors.forename: A X
authors.initials: AX
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D005393:Fish Diseases / Q000382:microbiology*; D006418:Heme / Q000378:metabolism; D007136:Immunoglobulins / Q000097:blood; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017262:Siderophores / Q000378:metabolism; D013290:Streptococcal Infections / Q000382:microbiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D013291:Streptococcus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters; D007136:Immunoglobulins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D017262:Siderophores; D006418:Heme; D007501:Iron
keywords: ABC transporter; Streptococcus iniae; iron transport; siderophores; the universal chrome azurol S assay